Erlaufsee is one of tens mountain lakes located in Austrian Alps, right between two lands: Lower Austria (Niederoesterreich) and Styria (Steiermark). Its northern coast is located in the former and the southern coast in the latter. The lake is 827 meters above the sea level and it contains about 12.4 million cubic meters of water. It is 1.5 km long and 500 m wide. The maximum depth is 38 m. The water in these Alpine lakes is, especially in the summer, warm enough for swimming. In Erlaufsee, you can find about 8,000 square meters of sand beaches, mostly at its eastern end. The water is transparent up to 20-meter depth. The western end of the lake is a starting point for hikers to Oetscher Alps.

The lake is accessible by road from Styria only. The Gemeindealpe peak (1,626 m above the sea level), with ski resorts on its eastern slope is a part of Oetscher Alps in Lower Austria. It was a sunny, late-fall late afternoon when I visited this area. All pictures are taken from Styrian side. No swimmers and nearly no turists could be met thence. So enjoy the quiet mood of the lake and its environment in my pictures.